2 South Korean Soldiers Die in Anti-Captivity Training

SEOUL, South Korea — Two South Korean soldiers died late Tuesday during an exercise meant to prepare them for capture by the enemy, military officials said Wednesday. The apparent cause was suffocation, they said.

The two soldiers were staff sergeants in a special forces unit based in Jeungpyeong, about 60 miles southeast of Seoul, according to a spokesman for their unit, who briefed reporters on the condition that he not be identified. The soldiers’ full names were not released. The spokesman said they were both in their early 20s.

The training exercise, conducted at the base, was meant to teach the soldiers to endure captivity should they be taken prisoner, the spokesman said. The soldiers were required to kneel with hoods over their heads and their hands tied behind their backs. Trainers realized the exercise was going wrong when another soldier, who was later hospitalized, screamed and flailed his legs, the spokesman said.

He said the military was investigating the deaths, with a particular focus on whether the training had been properly supervised.

The incident occurred at a time when the South Korean military was already facing public anger over the beating death of a private following weeks of abuse from fellow soldiers. Homicide charges were filed this week against four soldiers in the private’s unit, who initially had faced lesser charges. The army chief of staff resigned over public criticism that the military tried to cover up the abuse the private suffered.

South Korea maintains a military of 650,000 people, most of them conscripts, as a bulwark against North Korea, with which it has technically been at war since 1950.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: South Korea: Soldiers Die in Exercise. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe